CHARACTER OF THE PERIOD
21 At the end of the eleventh century, western European society finally left behind the archaic feudal and agrarian structures which had characterized the early Middle Ages. Important advances were made in the course of this transformation of the West.
The sovereign nation state became the dominant form of political organization, and its symbol was the absolute monarch of early modern times. The society of the late Middle Ages, in which the various social orders had managed to obtain a share of power by means of a system of representative �estates’, was no more than a passing phase in the evolution of the state, as was the political independence of the great cities at that time. The emergence of national authorities was at the expense of the empire, and it obstructed German attempts to restore the universal power of the Roman empire. The same development also meant that the power of feudal lords diminished to the same degree that central governments asserted and reinforced themselves.The organization of the church had a similar centralist tendency. Here power was concentrated at a supra-national level, and allowed a bureaucratic and hierarchical church to take shape under the direction of the papacy.
The closed and essentially agricultural manorial economy was replaced by a market economy. This was sustained by the developÂment of international commerce and industry, an intense circulation of capital, and the development of a banking system: in other words, a renewal and transformation of economic activity in general, assisted by the rise of numerous cities. In spite of the dampening effects associated with corporatism and mercantilism, free enterprise was the driving force of the new economy. The scale of capitalist enterprise in the late Middle Ages was still modest, as it was restricted by the economic power of cities or independent city republics.
From early modern times, however, capitalism could mobilize the resources of an entire nation and work on a world scale. This economic expansion is reflected in urbanization: the population of the large cities of the Middle Ages was still of the order of 100,000, yet in early modern times it reached a million. The social conseÂquences were clear. The commercial success of urban businesses now set the pace for economic development in the country; social emancipation also extended beyond the cities into the country. The cities and their liberated citizens, by exerting this two-pronged pressure, therefore made a decisive contribution to the abolition of serfdom. And as agriculture became commercialized, the social and economic structure of the old manor disappeared.There was also a profound intellectual development. The general cultural level rose markedly, and this is reflected particularly in increased literacy and increased written use of the vernacular languages; rational thought also continued to gain ground. It was at this time too that universities came into being and spread throughÂout Europe. They carried with them an intellectual discipline based on the great philosophical and legal works of Graeco-Roman Antiquity. Ancient thought was the object of intense study, which culminated during the Renaissance; it was subsequently supplanted by modern scientific method, which was experimental and had freed itself of dogma and arguments based on authority.